James R. Hannibal: The Paris Betrayal

 By Kelly Bridgewater

After a rough mission in Rome involving the discovery of a devastating bioweapon, Company spy Ben Calix returns to Paris to find his perfectly ordered world has collapsed. A sniper attack. An ambush. A call for help that brings French SWAT forces down on his head. Ben is out. This is a severance--reserved for incompetents and traitors.

Searching for answers and anticipating a coming attack, Ben and a woman swept up in his misfortunes must travel across Europe to find the sniper who tried to kill him, the medic who saved his life, the schoolmaster who trained him, and an upstart hacker from his former team. More than that, Ben must come to grips with his own insignificance as the Company's plan to stop Leviathan from unleashing the bioweapon at any cost moves forward without him--and he struggles against the infection that is swiftly claiming territory within his own body.

Award-winning author James R. Hannibal rachets up the tension on every page of this suspenseful new thriller.

 

My Thoughts:

I really wanted to like this book. Thrillers, suspense, and mysteries are some of my favorite genres to read. A good book to me will have the suspense with moments of doubting myself as I try to figure out who the bad person who is and the motive is. Usually I can figure out the person and watch the clues pile up before the end of the story. But in The Paris Betrayal by James R. Hannibal, the novel does start with an exciting mission and incident, which I really liked. A good thriller novel should capture my attention within the first moments, or my attention can wander away. But from this moment, the main hero, Ben, is on the run. Bullets are flying. People dying. Which normally, I would praise and be happy to see. BUT I had a hard time staying focused. Ben was always on the run. Not that many moments to breathe. Too many other characters to account for. What were they there for? Why were they there? Are they important to the solution to the story? In those moments, I read the story and followed what happened, but I needed more depth. I do not feel like I grew a connection with Ben. I didn’t really care what happened to him. What was the issue that Ben was running from? This was not shown until almost the end of the novel. The scenery was nice since I have never traveled to Europe, but I can’t wait to visit. Hopefully, sometime. Overall, The Paris Betrayal did not really capture my attention like I wanted it to. The story needs more personal connection to the reader.

I received a complimentary copy of  The Paris Betrayal by James R. Hannibal from Revell Publishers, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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